hal.dll - Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt

Question

I got my pxe boot to work finally. Applied my image created on a ref machine to another Pc and when it boots I get the error

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt

<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Please re-install a copy of the above file

My image is a Windows XP sp2, not Vista created on a HP D330 P2.66 Desktop.

My target machine is a HP D330 P2.6C. I had thought they were identical and it was only when this error came up that I spotted that it was a Celeron.

My question - how can I make my images less hal dependent. When I used Ghost we had a single image for every model computer, it was only when we started buying Dual cores that we had to create a seperate image. Is there something I need to add to my ref machine before I grab the image from it.

For legacy computers that can't use the Uniprocesor HAL, only APCI, the techs boot into Windows PE and then copy hal.dll, ntkrnlpa.exe and ntkrnlos.exe from a system running the APCI HAL into C:\windows\system32, overwriting the files there. The system will boot and you can pick the APCI HAL again and it will install it.

The nice thing about this is the image boots up as Uniprocessor on all new hardware. If it's not dual core, we just leave it. If it has multiple cores, we go into the device manager and change it there, reboot and viola, you have multiple cores in the task manager!

Microsoft's only answer for Windows XP images and multiple HALs is to create multiple images.

I've had a closer look at the 2 machines. From the BIOS info page the only difference between the 2 desktops is the processor. The BIOS lists one as a PIV 2.6 and the other as a PIV 2.66. Neither are listed as a Celeron

I'm going to try reimaging it again and see what happens, if that doesnt work I'll do a windows repair and see what the device manager lists the HAL as.

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